And I have to work hard in order to have an ordinary life.

I don’t know what happened to the media these years, or maybe it’s a habit inherited many years ago:

They desperately advocate giving up the college entrance examination, traveling around the world, and taking a break. In 2010, anyone who won the top spot in the college entrance examination must be easy to study and extremely talented. Emphasizing that "the meaning of life lies in experiencing the most, not the best".

Water flows to lower places, and people go to higher places. Perhaps a perfect life is the most enviable thing. Everyone wants it but can't get it, so they resort to writing to get it.

Regarding the comments on these news, one of the sentences impressed me deeply:

I don’t have a family with roots in the imperial city, and I don’t have parents who have studied abroad. I can only study hard and fight my way through thousands of people in order to get an ordinary university in China. And I have to work hard to get an ordinary life. However, the media treats millions of children from ordinary families like ours who never give up their efforts as fools.

I especially want you to see another kind of life and another kind of mediocre success.

I was born in a southern village that is half an hour away from the county seat by driving a motorcycle.

My hometown has mountains, water, villages, evening companions, and a grocery store where my father makes a living.

One day I had a fever in the middle of the night and suddenly wanted to eat something.

At that time, the children in the county already regarded "Wangwang Snow Cake" as junk food, but it was still new to us. The snow cakes in the grocery store are sold in large packages by the quantity. Children from the neighborhood pass by and buy them with some change to satisfy their hunger.

Although I knew not to move, I still secretly tore a piece of snow cake.

As a result, I was beaten severely by my mother. She scolded me as she beat me, "You little melon, you are possessed by a hungry ghost and you don't distinguish between good and bad things. You also eat the things that are being sold."

I have never known what a "good life" is.

Because it is in books, I love reading very much. Only then did I realize that there are so many high-profile lives in the world, and rich people have so many colorful ways to play.

I don’t know that reading can provide me with more choices, because that is the only choice I have.

The first time I heard the term "quality education" was when I transferred to the county junior high school.

During the opening ceremony, the principal stressed that “our school must still pay attention to quality education.”

Later, I heard from the head teacher that "quality education" means singing, dancing and playing the piano. I find it strange how that can be considered a type of education. It is clearly about enjoyment, recreation, and luxury.

Fortunately, the head teacher said that this is just a slogan, and it will be enough if you shout it.

Later, I really became a leader in "quality education".

I formed a band at the county high school. Although this so-called "band", the president only sang once. In the sandy playground of the school, a loud amplifier was used with vague English lyrics.

At that time, video-recording mobile phones had just become popular among the boarding students, and their pixels were extremely low. Everyone held up their mobile phones to record it, leaving behind a performance that we now see as humiliating, but at the time we considered ourselves "superstar-like".

Later, I learned that at the same age, there were already many people holding bass guitars on campus and holding a truly gorgeous and dazzling concert.

We obviously did the same thing at the same age, but I had no chance and no one told me how to do it well.

When I applied for the college entrance examination, I always thought that poor people could afford to learn Chinese, because books said that "poor families have many literate people."

When I was a sophomore, I regretted it. Because everyone told me, "If you want to learn Chinese, if you want to learn media, you have to figure yourself out first. Media is a business where even if you are very poor, you still have to package yourself in a glamorous way."

But girls love beauty after all. Although they took some detours, they still spent four years like a human being and graduated beautifully.

When I walk on the street, I will be called "pretty girl" by others, although the authenticity is questionable.

After graduation, I stayed in Beijing. My first job was at a small website, doing some in-depth interviews and taking one day off every week.

The unit is small and the division of labor is unclear. Going to the scene, writing surveys, and updating self-media are like a brick that can be installed anywhere at any time.

I remember that the first time I got my salary was July 11. I was so excited at that time that I directly transferred the maximum amount of money to my family using online banking, and then called my family very happily.

"I sent money home! Remember to accept it."

Then I reported the specific amount.

My dad was surprised: "Why did you send so much? Didn't you keep some for yourself?"

I was waiting for this sentence from him, and I held the phone tightly. , smiling as if the corner of his mouth would reach his head in the next second:

"I still have it! Dad, I still have it! I make a lot of money in a month."

This It was the first money I sent home besides the money I had left over from college.

I really like walking on the streets of Beijing and listening to the voices with different accents coming and going. Looking at myself in the reflector, I look as mediocre as anyone walking on the road.

I think about my child, although he may not have a Beijing household registration. But at least there is a mother who has seen Beijing and can tell him that the world has a different look.

When he eats "Wangwang Snow Cake", he can tear open the package generously and bite it one bite at a time without licking off the sugar blossoms on it.

He can already see a farther and broader world than I could see at first.

When my father reluctantly sent me off to Beijing, he has been here several times, and every time he said, "Thanks to you, I can let my father come and take a look at the capital in my lifetime."

This ordinary day is enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Kobe Bryant said that he knows what Los Angeles looks like at four o'clock in the morning every day. And I know what Beijing looks like every morning at one o'clock in the morning.

I got off work from get off work at 10:30, used a taxi app to hail a car, and chatted all the way. Most of the drivers are outsiders who live in big cities. They buy cars, but they still have the goal of saving as much as they can, and use their cars to earn gas money during their breaks.

We looked at the streets of Beijing together, facing the city that was still brightly lit at 10:30 in the evening and feeling in our hearts: This is my Beijing.

Everything was silent, and we finally had our own world.

At the beginning, when people criticized "Phoenix Man" verbally on the Internet, in fact, as a "Phoenix Woman" (although I can't be called a Phoenix based on my salary), I felt a little conflicted in my heart.

Later I felt relieved. I didn’t hate the rich and beautiful, and I didn’t focus on the so-called “unfairness”. You are not willing to be ordinary people, chasing poetry and distance, but I have to work hard to get the most ordinary life.

But so what, at least, I now have the most ordinary life. I can give my father what he considers "big money" on July 11th, and I can see the feasting and feasting in the late night. In the imperial city, someone can walk on the road with a high head like an ordinary person and be called "beautiful girl" without knowing whether it is true or false.

The current situation is not scary, because I know it is getting better day by day. I also have my own poems and distant places as a pastime in my spare time. The rest of the time, I squeeze on the subway during the morning rush hour and live seriously.

ps: This article is taken from a reader’s message and relates to the experience of a previous friend. I have received many messages on WeChat from readers these days. Some people ask, "How can poor people be refined?" Others ask, "How can we raise children richly if we have no money?" I want to give each of you a hug during these uncomfortable days.